Pain I'll Never Forget
by What Ever Happened To Reality
Summary: Percy has done something, something that he can never forgive. The pain haunts him everyday as he tries to distance himself from the past. But will the circumstances surrounding his actions lead him back to the very same people he hurt?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! **

**Yeah, I started this English Class last week. We had to choose one of these 6 sentences on the whiteboard, and then write a story using the sentences as the opening phrase. The one I used is from The Hunger Games (SOOOOO GOOD)**

**I hope you like it, I was listening to Jar of Hearts the whole time, so thats why its...well...just read.**

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><p>Twilight is closing in and I'm ill at ease. I looked furtively over my shoulder. Making sure that I wasn't being followed. I slung my pack over my shoulder, and put my sword in my pocket. Yes, I said sword. Lets just say that I'm...special. But more about that later. I stumbled along the wooded path, exhausted, forgetting exactly where I was going or where I had come from. My body begged me to lie down beneath a tree, to go to sleep and never wake again. Alas, I could not. If I chose to lie down, or even to stop and rest, I would surely be killed.<p>

_What have you gotten yourself into Percy?_ I asked myself, _you know you need to face-_

"STOP IT!" I shouted. I didn't want to relive the past. It was too painful. All those lives, all my friends, all the regret. No, I couldn't go back. I needed to keep moving, to find a way out of the pain.

_You know you don't have to live like this Percy_ a voice spoke in my head.

"Dad?" I asked aloud, halting where I was. Pine trees towered above me, casting dark shadows in the fading twilight. Like monsters slowing beginning to close in on you unexpectedly.

_Percy, look around you, do you think Chiron-_

"Stop." I started to become apprehensive, the trees looking more and more menacing by the second.

_or Grover, or Tyson,_

"Please, stop!" My breathing increased. I could _not_ let those memories resurface. That was why I was running-

_or Thalia, Rachel._

"DAD PLEASE!" My pulse was furious, my heart pounding, I began to panic. My body shaking uncontrollably, my vision beginning to blur. The pine trees seemed to be closing in on my, causing clastrophobia to set in. A felt like a small animal, trapped by a predator-

_Or even Annabeth? Percy! What would Annabeth think?_

I snapped.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! THALIA, GROVER, CHIRON, EVEN ANNABETH! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY THINK! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'VE DONE! WHAT HAPPENED! HOW I FEEL! I CAN NEVER GO BACK, DAD! N-Never!" I sobbed, all the pain in my chest nearly suffocating me. I lay down, sobs racking through my body, bringing on fresh waves of pain, making me relive the memories, the ones I swore I would never let myself relive. I lay on the cold ground of the forest floor, drowing in sorrow, pain, depression, every painful and remorseful feeling known. My raven black hair slowing becoming covered in needles and tree sap. I couldn't see anything. Either complete darkness had set in, or my tears were so thick in my eyes I was blinded. My father's voice had left me, though I swore a sigh of pain had escaped his lips before he left my mind. I cowered in a fetal position, letting all my pain seep through my bones, turning m numb and hollow.

I could never, _never_, go back. All I had done, all that had happened, it was just to painful.

I could never let my self forgive what I had done.

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><p><strong>Yeah, it's short, but I just ended where I felt fit. It is more of an Introduction than an actual story.<strong>

**Review as well, I would like to know if I should make this a new story or just keep it as a one shot. **

**~BornLucky101**


	2. Chapter 2

**OH MY GODS THANK YOU ALL!**

**I got home from my soccer game, and after I took a shower I came up to my computer to check my e-mail and do my History homework.**

**GUESS WHAT? I HAD FIVE REVIEWS ALREADY! FROM JUST 2 HOURS!**

**I literally stared smiling like a goofball! =D**

**So, for everyone who reviewed/story alerted, THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

**And now, Chapter 2!**

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><p>I don't know how long I lay beneath that pine tree. As I sat up, my muscles wincing from being in the same position for Zeus knows how long, I realized that the pine tree was the same type as Thalia's<p>

_Thalia_..._Nico...Rachel...Annabeth...__Oh Percy, what have you DONE? _I thought.

Another wave of remorse washed over my already deflated body. I was empty, hollow, left with only one emotion: regret. Regret for what I had done to my friends. Regret for what I had done to my family. Regret for what I had done to every single person I had ever cared about. Regret for being a Son of Poseidon who let his fatal flaw finally get the best of him.

Regret, regret, and more regret. That was all that I felt. It was my reality, my past, my present, my future. It was the only thing driving me to stand up. To gather the supplies that had fallen out of my backpack when my fathers voice had driven over the edge of sanity. To start walking again in the total darkness of the cool spring night.

As I walked, my footsteps matching the slow beating of my heart, I saw a small light of to my right. Feeling both emotionally and physically taxed, I decided to follow the light. Yes, it was probably a bad idea, but anything bright and non-depressing was pleasing to my shattered conscience. As I grew closer to the light, I realized that it was a campfire. My unease from earlier came back, warning me to scope out the cause if the campfire before I directly approached the glowing embers.

When I reached the trees surrounding the campfire, a familiar smell reached my nose. _S'mores_.Memories of burning marshmallows with my friends and laughing along to camp songs flashed before my eyes. For a moment, I was at peace, content and relaxed. But just as soon as the euphoria came, it vanished, leaving me even emptier than before.  
>There were two girls and a boy sitting on a log, directly across from where I was standing in the shadows. They were all roasting marshmallows, quietly talking amongst themselves as they studied a worn paper map. By the glint of their Celestial Bronze weapons, I could tell that they were indeed demigods. As I looked again at the three sitting on the log, my suspicions were confirmed even further. The boy in the middle had the classic upturned eyebrows of a child of Hermes, and the two girls both seemed to be sisters, and daughters of Athena by the looks of them. They had long black hair, just like the goddess, and those stormy grey eyes that I loved, exactly like the ones of the girl I-I...<em>Stop it Percy, <em>I cautioned myself, _that was your past, move on_. _Don't lose yourself again, you cannot give yourself away._

I shook my head, trying to regain my focus on the three demigods. The boy was jabbing at a spot on the map, as if to prove a point he was making. Both the girls, I now saw they were twins, were shaking their hands, and gesturing to another part of the paper. I assumed they were arguing over where to go. I wondered if they were on a quest, and if so, why. The last time I had been at -at, well, at the place I had come from, I had not seen these demigods. I guessed that they were new, it had been two weeks since...since...since-

_NO PERCY! _My conscience screamed, _DO NOT GO THERE! _Alarms started to go off within my brain, trying to keep my thoughts away from what had caused me to run. To hide. To fill with remorse. To scream at my father.  
>My muscles tensed. I looked up from my hand which I had been balling into fists. The three demigods were gone. Wait, <em>GONE? <em>I swept my head from side to side, trying to see where they had gone. I took my pen out of my pocket, uncapping it in the process. The small, 15¢ ballpoint pen grew into my only meaningful possession, Riptide. A three-foot deadly sharp Celestial Bronze sword that had killed hundreds of monsters, but could not save- I again shook my head to clear my thoughts. Much to often were my surroundings reminding me of what I had done. This was not the time or place to go down that dark, painful path.

"Who are you?" A voice spoke. I spun to face the tree where the voice had come from. I raised Riptide, using it's faint bronze glow to illuminate the voices origin. A pair of brown eyes stared back at me, afraid, but deadly.

"He asked who you were" Another voice, a girl's this time, came from behind me. I turned again and faced one of the two twins. Her stormy grey eyes were calculating, as if to pry the information straight from my soul. I looked around, and saw that I had been surrounded. The boy and other girl had come in from behind me, making it nearly impossible for me to escape.

"Wait, Linnea, he looks kinda familiar." The boy said, his voice to close for my liking. "Isn't he-"

"Shut up, Kevin!" The third demigod told him. I couldn't see her face, since her sister had pointed an arrow at my throat, but I could tell she was the leader of the group. Her words held a sort of commanding tone to them, like any leaders. I heard their footsteps come closer, and swords being drawn. Obviously, I was a threat, and I would have to fight to escape.

"Yes, Kevin, do be quiet." The girl in front of me spoke. Her voice was steely, almost exactly like her sisters, except it lacked some of the authority her twin's held.

"But Linnea, look! It's Per-"

"KEVIN! What did I just say. Shut up before our intruder escapes!" The daughter of Athena I guessed was Linnea, and the group leader, commanded. She and her sister suddenly came to either side of me, discouraging any chance I had at fleeing into the woods I had come from. The boy, Kevin, was still behind me, muttering about how Athena's children always told him to be quite. I smirked, but quickly regain my composure. I would have to run straight, through their campsite, to reach safety.  
>I began to weigh my options of making it alive, when both twins made to grab my arms. Without a second thought, I bolted for the camsite.<p>

_WHISHHHHH! _An arrow passed dangerously close to my head as I jumped of the dying fire. I heard Linnea, Kevin's, and the third girl's shouts as I escaped. I knew they would come for me, obviously Kevin had recognized my face. I had to get as far as I could from that campsite.

As I plunged back into the darkness of the woods, I felt as I did the night of...of the incident. A burning campfire behind me, darkness in front, and demigods hot on my tail.

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><p><strong>Well, there's chapter two!<br>I know, way longer than the first chapter, but I was so motivated by all of your immediate feedback, that I had to write another chapter.**

**Please review! It means so much to me.**

**~BornLucky101**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! **

**I back and ready for chapter three! This one might be a little less intense- tragedy wise, but you can decide for yourself.**

**By the way, I own nothing aside of my original characters and the plot. Everything else belongs to Rick Riordan.**

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><p>I ran for all I was worth. Dodging trees, roots, and bushes as I flew by. I had lost the three demigods a long time ago, I had heard them grow farther and farther behind as I ran. I knew that would continue to search for me though. Almost everyone did. That was why it was so hard for me to stop and rest. Every moment that I allowed myself to stay in one place, allowed others to grow closer to where I was hiding.<p>

I was sharply pulled out of my thoughts when I tripped over a large tree root. _THWACK!_ Went my head against the ground. I groaned and slowly sat up, letting my vision return to normal. As I assessed my limbs to make sure I was uninjured, I realized how truly tired my mind and body was. My hand was shaking in the slowly lightening sky, and my legs had turned to lead. I could not go on any farther like this, I would have to sleep before I could get going again.

Reluctantly, I pulled myself up and somehow climb to the lowest limb of the nearest tree. I dug a small blanket out of my pack, along with a granola bar. While I ate, I let my mind wander, finally having some peace after the events of the past few hours. I observed my surroundings, taking in the harsh greens and browns of the forest. I was somewhere in upstates New York. I was a long, long way from home, but still not long enough. I was planning on going somewhere discreet, like Montana or Idaho. Somewhere where I could hide from, from...the flashback suddenly came rushing back to me.

_I was crouching on the ground, muscles tensed. Waiting for my attacker. Behind me, leaves rustled. I whirled around to meet the owner of the sound, but it was only Annabeth. Her blonde curls were singed at the ends, and the was a cut right above her left eye. she held her Yankees cap in one hand, and her dagger in the other. In one word, I though she look beautiful._

_"Hey, Percy." Her voice was tired, just like the rest of us. _

_"Hello, Annabeth" I replied, keeping my voice even. Trying not to show my fear. Trying not to show what I was about to do, what I had to do. What I...what I...what I feared the most._

_"Any sign of the enemy?" She asked, crouching down beside me. I took in her scent of burned wood and lemon shampoo, letting the two smells soothe me as I prepared myself._

_"N-not yet." I stammered. Then I lunged..._

"NO!" I shouted. Tearing myself away from the memory. I could not relive that moment. That moment I did something I will never get. What haunts me to this day. The moment I attacked Annabeth and ruined my life. All because of _HIM_.  
>Not wanting to have another emotionally jarring flashback, I readjusted myself on the tree bough, and stared at the stars. <em>Sagittarius, Hercules,...and Zoe. <em>All the constellations flickered before my eyes in the pitch blackness of the night. Or was it morning? I honestly had no idea what the time was. All that had happen had seemed to take forever, yet no time at all. I put my hand back behind my raven black hair, letting my self slowly fall asleep.

...

"I swear! The footprints lead here!" A shout awoke me form my sleep. I jolted awake, nearly falling out of the tree. I caught my balance just in time, and looked for the owner of the voice. I was temporarily blinded by the brilliant midday sun. _Had I really slept that long? _When I regained my vision, I realized it was the three demigods I had encountered last night. Kevin, the boy, Linnea, the assumed leader, and her twin, whose name I did not know. They seemed to have packed up in a hurry; their bedrolls messily stuffed in their containment sacks, and random bits of other supplies poking out of each of the three's backpacks.

"Kevin! Don't be ridiculous! You said that not an hour ago! And what did that turn out to be? BEAR TRACKS YOU IDIOT!" It was the third sister that had spoken, and she was seriously pissed off. Her black hair was spiked, kind of like a certain Hunter of Artemis I knew, and she was holding the map I had noticed when I had found their campfire.

"Calm yourself, Isabel." Said Linnea, "Kevin just clearly can't tell the difference between bear tracks, and the tracks of a sixteen year old runaway demigod. Though, when I think about it, I can't really tell the difference between them either." She and Isabel, the name of the third sister, snickered while Kevin wore a face of extreme offense. Before he could retort, I did something extremely stupid. I fell out of my tree.

"HOLY POSEIDON! AHHHH!" I screamed as I fell. With a rather large _THUMP! _I hit the forest floor. Causing the others to jump backwards in alarm. Immediately Linnea and Isabel pulled their weapons, a strung bow and a sword, aiming them right at my chest. I stood unsteadily, drawing Riptide from my pocket. I prepared myself for a fight. Kevin was the first to charge. He came at me, wielding his own sword, and yelling incoherently. I met his blade with my own, and shoved his sword away from my body. He struck again, but I parried his strike. I made sure to keep my back facing the tree, as to not but hit from behind by one of the Athena twins. Kevin tried a disarming maneuver, something I had been taught once before by..._Luke. _My old enemy. I thought of the rippling scar on his left cheek, and of the pit scorpion he had sent after me on my first summer at camp. _Camp, how I missed it so. With the canoeing lake and open air pavilion. _In moment of personal reflection, Kevin found the break in my defenses. He cleaved down on my body with all his strength, only to have his sword shattered.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Kevin screamed as he backed away from my, obviously invulnerable, body, "NOBODY TOLD US HE WAS _INVINCIBLE!_" I turned and ran in that moment of Kevin's confusion, a certain sense of deja vu washing through my veins as I swept my pack off the ground.

"Not so fast, _Percy Jackson_."

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><p><strong>Enjoyable? Horrible? Just plain...AWESOME?<strong>

**Please tell me in a review!**

**~BornLucky101**

**P.S. For all of you who Reviewed/Favorited/Alerted, THANK YOU SO MUCH! It means the world to me, truly.**

**P.S.S. My Son of Neptune story will be updated this week! I PROMISE!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey Everyone! IMAAA BACK!**

**Just got out of school and have been having a pretty emotional week. I have cried my eyes out twice, and miss all my friends terribly... Anyway, here is my next chapter! I hope you enjoy, and for a special treat, I am going to address each of the reviewers from Chapter 3 individually:**

**(No-Name)****: If you read this, I hope you remember to put a name next time. I would really like to know who you are, or at least have a name to address you by. Anyway, yes I have done stuff like that before, but not as bad as you...By the way? In the books? Percy says 'Eat my pants' in Latin, not Greek.**

**The Ultimate Ninja****: WHY HAVE YOU NOT JOINED FANFICTION YET? I TOLD YOU TO LAST WEEK! Anyway, I told you that if you want your cheeseburger story on FanFic, you need to post it yourself. No Exceptions.**

**Gingers rock****: I love your pen-name! SO COOL! Anyway, Percy was not an exceptional fighter last chapter because he became distracted by his emotions. In his moment of blankness, Kevin have the chance to hit him. Don't worry he is still awesome at sword fighting. Lastly, I can't say the secret thing yet because that would kinda end the story...though now that I think of it...I could within the next few chapters.**

**The ice within****: Also, great pen-name. Sorry you waited forever! I legit had so much to do last week I nearly combusted. Anyway, you have been one of my most loyal reviewers. I am so thankful for that! Sorry about the cliffie...I just love 'em!**

**Sailor Sea****: Why do you all have cool pen-names? Seriously! Okay, so you are also my second most loyal reviewer! I LOVE IT! And guess what? I'M UPDATING!**

**lennygoat****: Thanks for teh review! I hope to hear more from you!**

**Ladeis and Gentlemen, I give you Chapter four!**

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><p><em>Oh Styx.<em> I knew that voice. She had found me. What I had been trying to avoid for the past two weeks came crashing down. All the pain, the sorrow, the regret. I prepared myself for the worst. Skidding to a halt, I slowly turned to face the owner of the voice. My heart pumping, my palms sweating in anticipation for what I would see next.

_Wait a minute, that's not Annabeth. _

The owner of who I had though was my worst nightmare simply turned out to be Linnea. In my moment of panic, her voice had seemed scarily similar to the girl I was fleeing from. I was very much relieved, and was grateful to have spared myself the emotional pain.

"Of course we know your name, Percy," Linnea said, malice dripping from every word, "You don't think we would be sent on a quest, and not be told the name of our target now would you?" She slowly walked toward me, her arrow aimed straight at my heart. Though it was a it pointless, I was invincible after all. I uncapped Riptide, letting its three feet of deadly Celestial Bronze expand into my trustworthy sword.

"It really is silly," Isabel continued, picking up right where her sister had left off, "that you could even begin Chiron would let his most powerful demigod run away without being pursued "

"Don't speak his name!" I shouted at her, my hands trembling. I raised Riptide, ready to attack.

"Whose name?" Linnea taunted, coming ever closer to my increasingly enraged form. She had a smirk on her face, a knowing one. She knew that she had the key to make me crumble, all she and her sister had to do was...

"Yeah, Percy, who? Thalia?" Isabel started. Also coming towards me, swinging her sword from side to side casually, as if she had all the time in the world.

"I SAID DON'T SPEAK THEIR NAMES!" Memories flooded my mind, causing me to lose my balance, images of bloody demigods, fires, and my own retreating form...I could not let them speak _her_ name. I would surely lose my sanity.

"What's gonna stop us, huh?" Kevin joined in, his voice showing he clearly enjoyed taunting me. Soon he, Isabel, and Linnea had made a loose circle around my tensed body. They then began to slowly tear me apart with their words.

"Grover," Said Kevin.

"Stop," I pleaded.

"Tyson," Teased Isabel.

"STOP!" I begged.

"Nico," Mocked Linnea.

"STOP! I SAID STOP!" I wailed, I could barley see now. The forest around us had become a green blur, the sky had disappeared. I did not know how much longer I could hold my sanity.

"ANNABETH" The shouted as one.

I charged, my vision becoming clouded in red, the only thoughts on my mind directed at killing the ones who were slowly causing me to relive my broken and painful past. I slashed here and there, intent on drawing blood. All known sanity gone out the window. I had crossed the line between animal and human. I was a monster, a killer, and nothing would stand in my way.

Riptide clanged against the sword of one of the three, Isabel's mostly likely, seeing as I had shattered Kevin's. I disarmed the blades owner, leaving them defenseless. If I had been in my right mind, what I did next would never had happened. Yet my anger had taken over my mind, and had destroyed what little restrained and reasoning I maintained.

_SWISH! THWACK! _ My blade cut clean through her armor, clean through her skin, slicing deep into her chest. I head her wail in pain and fall to the ground. In my animal mode, I did what any predator would do. I finished her off.

"NOOOOO! ISABEL!" Linnea cried in agony as she watched her sister die. I heard an arrow come straight at my head, I ducked, hearing it hit a nearby tree. I turned on Linnea, ready to kill another when a voice came into my head.

_"Percy, you are not a killer"_

_"Dad?"_ I asked in my mind, momentarily pausing in my attack. In the coner of my eye, I saw Linnea's perplexed face, wondering why I had stopped so suddenly.

_"Perseus, look around you. You have just killed an innocent girl, a daughter of Athena at that. Is this what you have come to?" _His voice was full of hurt and pain, and most of all, disappointment.  
>I had no response, his words had cut too deep. I looked down at Isabel's bloody form. Her black hair and facial features exactly like her mothers. I saw the point on her chest where I had stabbed her heart in my moment of uncontrolled rage.<p>

My conscience shattered.

My voice broke in to heart-wrenching sobs, all the pain and trauma of my last few days flowing through my tears. I feel to my knees, and then onto my side. Somewhere off to my left Linnea shot her arrow. It bounced of my shoulder, falling to pieces on the forest floor. I continued to cry, to cry as hard and possibly harder than when my dad had first entered my mind. _You have just killed an innocent girl, a daughter of Athena at that._ His voice replayed in my ears. For some reason, neither Linnea nor Kevin attacked again. They seemed to have disappeared. It didn't matter though, because when they contacted camp, which I knew they would, they would tell all the demigods that I had killed their comrade, that I had taken another life away from the world. That I had done what had driven me away from camp the first time.

They would tell Annabeth I was still alive.

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><p><strong>...Yeah...intense...<strong>

**Before you start flaming about how I made Percy kill a character, hear me out. His killing of another demigod ties into the event that caused him to run away in the first place. Killing someone, especially a demigod goes against everything Percy believes in and stands for. Never in his right mind would he kill an innocent person. That is why he ran away...**

**OOPS! Almost gave away my secret now did I?**

**Anyways, please review! This is so far my favorite of my two fanfics to update, so your reviews are what keep me going! Lets aim for at least ten reviews this chapter, shall we?**

**~BornLucky101**

**P.S I have posted a poll on my profile, I you have read my _Son of Neptune_ fic, please vote. If you haven't, read it, review it, and then vote. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello my lovelies!**

**I return at last from the land of various websites and classrooms that have taken my attention away from writing this story, many apologies I must give you!**

**Well, there is really nothing for me to say besides I finally wrote a chapter, and that there may only be two or three after this one seeing as it was never really meant to get up to ten chapters anyways, but fear not, I think you will enjoy this one.  
>I warn you, this one isn't really in the style that the others are, but I hope it is satisfactory. <strong>

**May you ever so much enjoy the piece of literature you are about to read.**

**(By the way...this take place in a somewhat AU, I'd say right around the time after the Battle of the Labyrinth, except for it never happened...and Percy and Annabeth were already together)**

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><p>I aroused from my second breakdown in the early hours of the dawn. My head and body ached from all of the fighting and crying, and my tongue was swollen from thirst; I realized I hadn't had anything to eat or drink in at least two days. I got up off the ground and did a thorough assessment of my body. Besides having multiple twigs and leaves stuck in my hair, and dirt covering my face and limbs, I seemed to be very much okay. The whole 'invincible' thing came in pretty handy, I had to admit.<p>

The first birds of the morning were beginning to sing, and their voices was somewhat eerie in the still half-lit forest. I took a cautious look around of my immediate surroundings. I was still in the same clearing as the night before, but there was no marks or evidence left on the ground to show what had happened. Kevin's shattered sword was gone, along with, I shuddered, Isabel's mutilated body. I was still trying to get over that fact that I had killed an innocent demigod, that I was a murderer, a _true_ one this time...not the half one I had been back at... back at... at camp.

I sighed, I was too tired to mentally scold myself for thinking of my, correction, what _was _my home. I tore a leaf off the tree I was leaning and picked at it as I thought about my past actions that had led me to become a fugitive, a killer, and a breakdown-prone fifteen year old.

It was Luke's fault, all of it, I told myself. He was the reason I was like this, if one look closely enough into the situation. He tricked me, he used my own weakness to manipulate me to execute his plans. How I wanted to find him and strangle him. Now THAT would be a death I wouldn't feel remorse for. That demigod was a twisted man, only seeking to serve the worst of the Titans. I felt bad for him, sometimes, when I would fondly reminisce on my first few weeks back at Camp Half-Blood, when Luke had seemed like a generally nice guy...that was, until he tried to kill me with a pit scorpion and led us to become arch enemies ever since.

It had been a couple days after I had arrived back at camp. It had been a night of Capture the Flag with Ares, Apollo, Demeter and Dionysus versus The Big Three kids (exception Thalia), Hephaestus, Athena and Aphrodite. We had won, naturally since Annabeth was the team strategist and Selina had wanted payback for a prank the Stoll twins had played on her that morning. I had been replaying the game in my head as I brushed my teeth when it happened. _He_ appeared. Luke's shimmering form was in my mirror, and he look like he meant business From there, the memory was a bit fuzzy, I remember spitting toothpaste all over his form, causing him to become more than slightly irritated. Luke had wanted something...he had wanted to hurt Annabeth somehow (my weakness), and to stop that from happening, we had made some bet. I don't remember that facts exactly, about what he wanted with Annabeth nor what our exact agreement was, but in my moment of panic for her safety, I agreed to lead him to the camp and let him in. It was the worst decision I had ever made.

I shredded the leaf with a final tear and mentally slapped myself a hundred times. How could I have been so STUPID? Some divine force or whatever must have been playing with my judgement them, because any other time I would have straight up refused, and told Chiron about the appearance immediately. I would have saved myself all the trouble I had now.

_SNAP!_ I jolted from my reverie, turning towards the sound of a stick breaking underfoot. I pulled out Riptide, preparing for a fight. Alas, it was only a young doe, frozen place at the sight of my celestial bronze sword. I was startled that a deer had come so close to where I was, usually they stay away from demigods because we smell like weapons and violence, or so Grover told me. Grover...I hadn't thought about him in a long time. I wondered if he was affected by my breakdowns through our empathy link, and if so, would he be able find me?

I put that thought aside as I watched the doe tentatively take a step forward, her eyes seem to be saying _Are you going to hurt me or what? _I smiled at her, despite the fact I knew she wouldn't understand the motion, she was only a doe after all. I re-capped Riptide and leaned back up against the tree, trying to make myself as little of a threat as possible.

Seeing that she was in no immediate danger, the doe began to walk again, though her steps were still hesitant and she never took her eyes off me. I stood perfectly still, somehow completely calm and serene and she passed through the small clearing and back into the thicker threes.

I watched he go, still smiling. It was strange that something so calm and quite could happen to me, right after I had had another breakdown and was most likely being hunted for. I let myself hold on to my feeling of serenity, basking in the fact that I wasn't panicking about where to go, how I wasn't having flashback from that terrible day. I wondered if that doe was one of the does Artemis looked after, seeing as they were one her her special creatures..._Artemis_ I thought, _Thalia_..._The Hunters_...my heartbeat quickened. I knew they never stayed at camp, they only chose to visit from time, and even then only for a couple days...I wondered if they knew about my mistake, about what I had done. For sure they knew _something, _how could they not? Thalia was one of Annabeth's closest friends, she must have told her...which could mean they were coming for _me._

I looked around for my backpack, I _had _ to start moving. My mind was forming various idea that the doe I had seen had been Artemis in disguise, that it was one of her does, that it somehow connected to her, and that it could some how connect to the people who I know thought were trying to find me. I knew that somewhere in the back of my mind the chances where so small of that doe being any sort of threat to me, but being a demigod, you never know when some divine force is at work against you, seeing as they can show up in any shape or form.

After about an hour of walking, taking furtive glances every few minutes, and waiting to hear the call of the Hunters or another enemy, I finally stopped to take a break on the edge of a creek. I stuck my feet into the water, it had become quite warm outside, and let the sensation wash through my body. It was nothing like what I felt when I was in salt water, that was the best, but the cool, smooth water gave me some relaxation.

All of a sudden, there came the sound of a hunters horn.

Oh _shit._


End file.
